The velocity of place

As most places in the US are not built to support active lifestyles for all ages, communities that choose the benefits of active living must intentionally retrofit their infrastructure and implement the appropriate programs. Although a community's decision to promote active living is often in the political arena, it is only effective when it is a collaboration of many community actors and has strong backing in broad segments of the community and departments of government. It really does represent, I believe, a conscious community choice to launch into a new realm. It's as if a community is gaining velocity to jump to a higher collective energy level. This has obvious ramifications in community health and regional competitiveness.

Richard Florida writes: "The economy is different now. It no longer revolves around simply making and moving things. Instead, it depends on generating and transporting ideas. The places that thrive today are those with the highest velocity of ideas, the highest density of talented and creative people, the highest rate of metabolism. Velocity and density are not words that many people use when describing the suburbs. The economy is driven by key urban areas; a different geography is required."

It is clear that the different geography required is one in which we can actively participate in; spaces that makes us feel alive and allow us to creatively engage in moving, playing, thinking, socializing and many more "ing"s than I can post here. Each community that chooses to support active living suddenly jumps ahead of its peers in the civic sweepstakes to attract new residents, businesses, investment, etc. and reaches that higher level of metabolism.